Whole Wheat Double Chocolate Banana Muffins (Video)

Figured we all might need a healthy treat as we ease into this post-Easter week. If you’re anything like me, you’re still full from all the cadbury eggs, cheesecake swirl carrot bundt cake, and jelly beans. I’ll be on this sugar high until next Easter, but it’s all worth it because… chocolate and carrot cake.

In the meantime, let’s indulge in something a little more pant-size friendly.

But still as tasty as those chocolate bunnies!

I began working with a company near and dear to my heart this year. Wholesome! has been part of my kitchen for almost two years– in fact, I recommend Wholesome!’s organic light corn syrup as my preferred brand in Sally’s Candy Addiction. Corn syrup is a required ingredient for many candies like homemade caramels, brittle, and marshmallows, so why not reach for a non-GMO project verified and organic option?

But this is all beside the point. What I’m trying to say is I bake with a lot of sugar. There’s certainly no denying that! And when I’m baking healthier snack foods or muffins, I love having the option of fair trade certified, organic, and natural sweeteners. And I’m sure you appreciate it as well. So I’ve added Wholesome! to my list of partners. And they’re not going anywhere any time soon. ♥

Moving on to those muffins!

If you flashback to November 2012, you may recall my skinny chocolate fudge banana muffins. As it turns out, this is one of my most popular muffin recipes. For very good reasons: their shocking resemblance to decadent chocolate cake (that’s no lie), rich, melty chocolate… all this with some whole wheat flour and zip/zero/zilch butter.

Today’s muffins are quite similar, but I’m calling them an upgrade. Skinny Chocolate Fudge Banana Muffins 2.0, if you will. They’re made solely with whole wheat flour, coconut oil instead of applesauce for extra richness (just 1/4 cup! makes a difference!), vanilla extract for delish flavor, and they’re sweetened with organic blue agave instead of white sugar. Since agave is sweeter than white sugar, we’re reducing the amount considerably. And the muffins still turn out fantastic. In fact, they’re even better. Didn’t even know it was possible to improve upon such perfection.

I’ve tried the muffins without any sweeteners and the results are in: bland, bitter, and sad chocolate sponge cake. Don’t waste your calories. Speaking of calories, each muffin has 175 of them.

Something else to note: using agave liquid sweetener makes them even more moist. Didn’t know that was possible either. Heck yeah!

Bananas naturally sweeten the muffins. Make sure you’re using super brown speckled bananas– the riper, the better your double chocolate banana muffins will taste. The chocolate flavor overpowers the banana, so don’t expect tons of banana flavor. Rather, expect a chocolate explosion with hints of sweet banana in the background.

We also have those dark chocolate chips hidden inside the muffins too. They are the best part, so don’t leave those out! You can use chopped semi-sweet chocolate or even semi-sweet chocolate chips. But I prefer the dark chocolate chips.

Look how dreamy inside! You’ll forget you’re eating breakfast because THESE MUFFINS TASTE LIKE DESSERT. Felt the need to shout that at you.

There’s no mixer; a whisk does the trick. The batter comes together in about 5 minutes, then it’s a simple spoon into the muffin pan and 20 minutes later you’ve got breakfast that resembles a fat slice of moist chocolate cake. I hereby declare them chocolate cake muffins. Did I mention they taste like dessert yet?

Don’t forget about my high temperature trick. For sky-scraping muffin tops, start the muffins at an extremely high temperature. The burst of high heat raises the muffin tops straight up. Then reduce that oven temperature to cook the center of the muffin for the remaining bake time. It’s such a simple trick that easily produces the tallest muffin tops in the world.

1 cup (180g) semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips (save a few for topping)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or use cupcake liners. This recipe makes 10-12 muffins (usually varies because of the banana size), so you might have 1 empty.

In a medium bowl, mash the bananas up using a fork.* Try to rid any and all large lumps– this requires some arm muscle! Once mashed, whisk in the agave, egg, coconut oil, and vanilla extract until combined. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until everything is combined. Fold in the chocolate chips, reserving some for the tops of the muffins.

Spoon the batter into liners, filling them all the way to the top. Top each with a couple chocolate chips– this is just for looks! Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 425 then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 18-20 minutes, give or take. Allow the muffins to cool for 10 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool until ready to eat.

Notes

Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Muffins stay soft, fresh, and moist in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Muffins freeze well for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and heat up (if desired) before enjoying.

You can find Wholesome! products at Whole Foods, Sprouts, and specialty/health food stores around the country. As far as conventional stores go, their products are sold at CostCo, Target, Kroger brand stores (Safeway, King Sooper, Fred Meyer, etc.) and Wegman’s. You can also order off Amazon.

180 Comments

I made these with 1/4 cup of my leftover unsweetened Applesauce and 1.25 cups of mashed bananas – turned out great! Previously I tried another Banana Chocolate recipe with Greek Yoghurt but this one is better and more flavourful.

Keen to try your Apple Cinnamon Muffins – curious, in your testing did you try reducing the 3 eggs in that recipe? Thanks Sally for a great selection of recipes!

Hi Kate! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and I love your addition of applesauce. You can try replacing one of the eggs in the whole wheat apple cinnamon muffins recipe with applesauce (in addition to the applesauce the recipe calls for) or even mashed banana.

I made this last weekend and everyone loved it. The only change I made was replacing the coconut oil with safflower oil and reducing the sugar to 1/4 cup. Now I’m thinking of baking a cake using this recipe. Should I double the recipe? Also please let me know the oven temperature and time to bake the cake with this recipe.

Hi Con! That’s great to hear! Do you want a layered cake? If so, I recommend making the batter twice– instead of doubling– then dividing between your cake pans. I’m unsure of the bake time, but begin checking it at 20 minutes. Bake at 350F.

Hi Sally, I have now made these and they turned out to be the best, most decadent healthy treat I’ve ever had in my life, and I can’t thank you enough for the recipe!
Can this batter be baked in a loaf tin? Any idea how long they should take in the oven?
Thanks again!

Hi Sue! Yes, you can pour/spoon the batter into a loaf pan instead of baking as muffins. I’m unsure how long the loaf will take, but use a toothpick to test for doneness. I’m so glad you enjoy the muffins, I still can’t believe how decadent they taste!

Hiii Sally
I am a huge fan of your recipes. I made your banana cake and carrot cake. My family and friends loved it.
The Wholesome Blue agave syrup is not available in the country I live in. So, I would like to substitute it with sugar. Could you tell me the quantity that I must use for this recipe.

I added in the cinnamon streusel from Sally’s banana chocolate chip muffins with cinnamon streusel (my husband’s fav banana muffins) and he devoured these muffins tonight. It tasted more like chocolate cake than a banana muffin made with whole wheat flour. I used honey instead of agave nectar and milk chocolate chips. Definitely the go-to muffin now. Thanks Sally!

Hi this may be a weird question, but I have this sugar and blueberry syrup that someone gifted me, I have no idea what to use it in. Can I substitute the agave with it? It’s sort of a thickish syrup but not as thick as honey. It’s not very sweet either.

If it’s not very sweet, it wouldn’t be ideal as a substitute for honey. You could, however, use half honey/agave and half that syrup in the muffins. Sounds like it would be wonderful swirled into cheesecake!

Made these with half chocolate chips and half toasted walnuts. Also added streusel on top made with homeade granola, pecans and brown rice cereal. Heat em in the microwave for 15 seconds before eating, and a very nice breakfast indeed. Thx Sally!

I made these last night but didn’t tell anyone they were a “healthy” version. I told my son to let me know how he liked them (a true blind taste test!). Well, he just texted me raving about them! I used vegetable oil as I didn’t have coconut oil and I used a mix of semi sweet and milk chocolate chips. Thanks for another great recipe!

Very nice muffins! My favourite chocolate muffins. So moist and chocolatey, amazing! I made them with normal flour, sugar and sunflower oil. They aren’t too sweet but very soft and tasty. I mixed the bananas with the hand mixer and the muffins were great thanks to that banana moisture. Will definitely do this muffins again and again.

My Cookbooks

About Sally

Welcome to my Kitchen!

I’m Sally, a cookbook author, photographer, and blogger. My goal is to give you the confidence and knowledge to cook and bake from scratch while providing quality recipes and plenty of pictures. Grab a cookie, take a seat, and have fun exploring! more about Sally